Committee approves renewal with Downtown Cleveland Alliance to maintain North Coast Harbor

The city's Transportation and Mobility Committee on Thursday authorized the director of Port Control to exercise the first one-year renewal option of contract PS202565 with the Downtown Cleveland Alliance to maintain and promote North Coast Harbor.

John H., a Port Control staff member, told the committee the common-area maintenance (CAM) agreement covers East N Street Pier, Voyage Park, the North Coast Harbor Walkway and dock areas north of the stadium and serves about 2.8 million visitors annually. He said the CAM partnership includes the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Great Lakes Science Center, the Cleveland Browns and Cumberland Development. The renewal amount was stated in the transcript as $470,000; a second numeric string in the transcript appears garbled and could not be verified.

Michael, speaking for Downtown Cleveland Alliance, said the organization has served downtown for 20 years and operated at North Coast Harbor since 2012. He highlighted more than 100 activations last year, nearly 2,000 business contacts, plant-care activities described as "over 3,000 gallons of water," removal of more than 250 graffiti tags and hospitality assistance reaching over 11,000 visitors. "We've been entrusted for a long time and this is a very important part of the core services that we provide to downtown," Michael said.

Councilman Casey asked whether the increase from a $452,000 not-to-exceed figure last year to the current $470,000 reflected higher Harbor revenues; a Port Control presenter replied the change "is just based on a CPI increase." Another council member said he would support the renewal but put on the record reservations about Downtown Cleveland Alliance's stance a year earlier regarding the Browns and the stadium, saying the group had "flip-flopped" when the city needed it. In response, Mr. Demer, a Port Control speaker, acknowledged the disappointment but defended the organization's prior efforts to keep the team in the community.

The chair heard no further questions and the ordinance (No. 93206) was circulated for signature, a procedural step recorded in the transcript indicating committee approval. The committee then proceeded to a second contract renewal before adjourning.

Action taken: ordinance 93206 authorizes the director of Port Control to exercise the first option to renew contract PS202565 with Downtown Cleveland Alliance; the ordinance was circulated for signature as recorded in the meeting transcript.